I wanted to let you know about the AAIA Family Conference that is going to be held in Ottawa in the fall... The OASG is co-hosting with the AAIA, so I have been very busy helping pull the program together. Here are the details....

The conference will include:
- Medical speakers (in French and English, with simultaneous interpretation courtesy of Health Canada)
- Interactive workshops in both French and English for teens and adults (including one by our own Gwen Smith!)
- A full-day bilingual children’s program for kids with anaphylaxis and asthma and their siblings (ages 3-12), with Magic! as the theme
- A lunchtime performance by singer-songwriter Kyle Dine – creator of the food allergy CD You Must Be Nuts! - An allergy- and asthma-aware marketplace with 25 vendors

The buffet will be allergy "aware", and catered by La Cite collegiale (where the conference is being held). The catering manager there has a child who has had severe food allergies (outgrown now, I believe), so he is well aware of the concerns of food-allergic folks.

We have required that the food be free of peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds, and will make sure that everyone coming knows not to bring in food with those allergens in them. I think you will agree that to make a lunch free of all the top allergens would be very challenging indeed.

We are striving to make sure there are lots of options for people (including gluten free bread for sandwiches, for example), and all foods will be well labeled with all ingredients listed, and relatively "unfancy". For example, the salad bar will be lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber... all very spread out to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Obviously if you have a lot of food allergies, it might be easiest to bring your own food as backup. Even I might do that with my kids.

I will get more details and post soon. Hope this helps.

You can also contact Monika Gibson of AAIA Ontario (details on the program PDF), although she is out of the office until next week.

We attended the conference and I just want to say that I'm glad we did.
Our daughter had so much fun that she was passed out in the back of the car when we got home (they ran her ragged). She did crafts, games, saw a magician, heard a musical performance by a fellow food allergy survivor, met many children who live her life successfully, got to hang out with a "big girl" who was all about our daughter having fun (a six year olds dream) and she got a loot bag in the end!
My husband learned a lot about products out there (he does most of the shopping) and he got to meet some of the people in our support group. Mostly he was surprised to find that some families are dealing with long lists of allergies (I guess I never mentioned this to him?) and he came away feeling that his world is not so bad as it could be. I think he felt good in that he could make suggestions to others in ways of coping. It helps us to remember that we are doing a good job.
I learned about products I didn't know we could eat -ad's oatmeal cookies (not individually wrapped) are apparently nut-free! I will have to check this out!
I had such a great time meeting others and sharing stories about what works and what doesn't and the take aways were fabulous!
I really advise anyone who has an event such as this happening nearby that they go. I find it is very beneficial for the person with the food allergies to see that others are successfully living their life and also to be able to ofefr support to others as this gives them that sense that they are in control of their own life and managing it well.

I was also at the conference but working with the kids program. My kids love it as they basically had a teenager to themselves. The teens were great and truly took their duties seriously and with a positive attitude. I did not attend any of the workshops but hope to at a future conference

Now, if I only can get the song "Epi-Man" out of my head (no offense Karen).

Jacqueline

_________________Jacqueline Labossière-Jager
Stittsville, ON

son - born 1998, allergy to peanut, nuts, sesame, shellfish and kiwi; a bunch of allergies to plants, animals, etc. and asthma
daughter - born 2003, no known allergies

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